STEAMPUNK & STAR CITIZEN

Since a few years my husband has been a great supporter and active player of the game Star Citizen. This amazing game is still under development by the subsidiary/division Roberts Space Industries (RSI) of Cloud Imperium Games and published by Cloud Imperium Games Corporation for Microsoft Windows. The development of the game started in 2011, led by director Chris Roberts, and is mostly financed from a large crowd funding campaign. Roberts Space Industries is also present in the virtual world of Star Citizen as the creator of the quantum drive that kick started humanity’s expansion into space. They offer a wide range of spaceships, from everything you need for basic interstellar travel up to deep exploration to the outer edges of the galaxy. Star Citizen is truly a one of a kind: a multiplayer, space trading and combat game with an ever expanding universe to roam in freely by the game player.

Where most virtual games follow clear story lines and have obvious beginnings and endings to their stories, this game (for PC only) is a true open world. There is no beginning or an ending. Time goes on whether you are online or offline and the player create their own story within “The Verse”. The universe keeps expanding with the continuous development of the game by the various departments of Roberts Space Industries and new features are added every time. It might be the closest encounter with the universe, however virtual, as one can ever get.

One day, when my husband got an email of RSI with the statement he had achieved the status of “Concierge” within Star Citizen, he came to the realization how much time and money (!) had gone into the game he so loves. A bit uneasy with these findings, he admitted to me that he might have put more money into the game that he had realized at first. Although it was a bit of a shock, I know that hobbies can come with some costs and we agreed that from now on he would think before spending any more. While we were talking about this and the fact it made him feel quite guilty, my husband wondered how many more people playing Star Citizen felt some kind of guilt about their purchases for this game. My immediate response was: “If all the people who feel guilty about the money they put into this great game for new spaceships would buy a piece of my handcrafted collection of Steampunk jewellery for their partner, this would be awesome for me and my business.”

Although it was meant as a loose and funny remark, my husband said straight away that my comment was not that weird at all. He showed me how my unique and handmade accessories actually fit quite well with the Star Citizen universe. For one, people who achieve the status of Concierge receive a monocle and a top hat as a gift for their in-world avatar from RSI. Buy a nice long coat in-game with that, and a handsome Steampunk avatar is the result (not while flying your space craft, of course, unless you want to be killed by lack of oxygen). Secondly, many of the places in Star Citizen (space ports, cities on various planets, etc.) have all kinds of Steampunk features showing steaming pipes, mechanic surroundings, copper and brown coloured environments combined with cyberpunk characteristics.

So the idea of buying a beautiful and unique Steampunk gift to a partner in real life that fits the virtual space hobby of a Star Citizen player, definitely is not so farfetched and strange at all. There is certainly a link between both worlds and while treating yourself with a new spaceship, you could maybe make two people happy in two different ways: a special and unique new spaceship for you and a pretty and extraordinary piece of jewellery as a gift for your partner!